Marion- Marion County residents will soon be enjoying several stretches of hard surfaced roads with better and longer life base. The 20 mile project includes 13 miles of Nighthawk between Peabody and Canada, five miles of 330th east of Tampa and 2.2 miles of 60th from Peabody west to Harvey County line. A process called Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is being used which grinds the existing road material to a depth of 12 inches and incorporates a 6% cement solution. The resulting mix is compacted, hardened, milled and ready for surface material within a few days. In this case it will be a double chip seal surface.
The project was submitted by Marion County to Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) for a cost share program. Six contractors bid on the work and Coughlin Company, Inc. was selected. Total cost of the project is $3.3 million with 65 percent paid by KDOT and 35 percent by Marion County. The project should be completed by the end of August.
Marion County has approximately 1,600 miles of roads with 800 miles of gravel, 200 miles paved and the balance dirt. In addition, there are 320 bridges.
In their 2022 budget, the Marion County Commission has committed a significant increase in resources to improve hard surface and rock roads.
Brice Goebel, Marion County Road & Bridge Engineer, commented, “Drainage and base are the key components of building a good road. The FDR process provides a base that should be much better than methods of the past reducing long term maintenance costs. Partnerships with the state also help make the projects more affordable for Marion County.”
